“Freedom is never more than one generation away from extinction. We didn’t pass it on to our children in the bloodstream. It must be fought for, protected, and handed on for them to do the same, or one day we will spend our sunset years telling our children and our children’s children what it was once like in the United States where men were free.” ~ Ronald Reagan

1. Sherman County Senior & Community Center Noon Meal Cancelled, 4/14

Thursday: Lunch, 4/14/16 is cancelled due to city water issues.

2. Sherman School District Athletic Schedules Updated, April 22

Sherman added a track meet for April 22nd, departure time is 2:00 with a dismissal at 1:50.

3. Cascade Singers | “Forty Years of Happy Singing,” June 4-5

“Forty Years of Happy Singing” is the theme for Cascade Singers’ concerts June 4 and 5. It is the 40th anniversary of the community choir’s first concert and the June performances will be held at the site of the 1976 event, St. Peter’s Landmark in The Dalles. Favorite songs from past years will be featured. Former Singers are invited to join the current group for the anniversary songfest. Contact Director Lloyd Walworth at 541 340-9858, via Facebook, or lloydwalworth@gmail.com.

WASHINGTON, DC – U.S. Rep. Greg Walden (R-Hood River) announced today that the Treating Small Airports with Fairness Act (“TSA Fairness Act”), a bill he authored to restore commercial air service to the Crater Lake-Klamath Falls Regional Airport by bringing back federal TSA screening at the airport, has unanimously passed the U.S. House of Representatives.

“The people of Klamath County deserve safe, reliable air service. That’s why unanimous approval of our plan is excellent news for Oregonians living in and around Klamath, our local economy and tourism, and the Oregon National Guard operating out of Kingsley Field,” said Walden. “The TSA Fairness Act will help make sure the TSA is not able to stonewall an agreement between the local community and a commercial air carrier who wants to resume flights at a small airport. I’m proud of the bipartisan support this bill has received in the House, and will continue to work with the Oregon delegation to get this across the finish line in the Senate. Let’s be safe and secure. Let’s be smart and prudent. Let’s pass this legislation and allow our communities to have the air service they need, and our country to have the security that we demand. This is common-sense legislation that needs to become law. Together we’re going to do the right thing even when the TSA will not.”

Community leaders in Klamath have been working to restore commercial air service since carrier SkyWest left the Crater Lake-Klamath Airport in June 2014. Last fall, the City of Klamath Falls received a commitment from Alaska-based carrier PenAir to bring back commercial service with daily flights to Portland. However, the TSA has refused to put back in place screening services at the airport, despite repeated calls from the local community and from Oregon’s congressional delegation.

The TSA Fairness Act would require the TSA to restore screening services to any airport that lost service after January 1, 2013 and that has a guarantee from a commercial airline to resume service within one year. There are currently at least six airports nationwide that have commercial airlines seeking to resume flights after undergoing a temporary gap in service, but are being denied TSA security screening and personnel. Instead, the agency directed the airports to allow passengers to fly unscreened to their next destination, and undergo screening there.

Walden introduced the legislation along with Oregon Rep. Peter DeFazio. The bill is also cosponsored by Reps. Will Hurd (R-Tex.), Cynthia Lummis (R-Wyo.), Derek Kilmer (D-Wash.), Jason Chaffetz (R-Utah), Blake Farenthold (R-Tex.), Rodney Davis (R-Ill.), and Tim Huelskamp (R-Kan.). Oregon Senators Ron Wyden and Jeff Merkley have introduced identical legislation in the U.S. Senate, and the Senate Commerce Committee has approved inclusion of the bill in aviation legislation pending in that body.

5. Oregon spotted frog

EUGENE, Ore. – U.S. District Judge Ann Aiken has ordered the Center for Biological Diversity, WaterWatch of Oregon, five Central Oregon irrigation districts and the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation to meet in an attempt to resolve their dispute over the Oregon spotted frog. The order for a settlement meeting came Thursday, as Judge Aiken issued a formal written opinion based on her earlier decision to deny a preliminary injunction requested by the two conservation groups.

The groups had asked the court to order an immediate change to the operation of Crane Prairie, Wickiup, and Crescent Lake reservoirs, which they said was needed to protect the spotted frog’s habitat.

The defendants had claimed such a court order “would severely limit if not eliminate the availability of water stored in the reservoirs for this year’s irrigation season.”

The judge also denied the Center for Biological Diversity and WaterWatch’s request after that ruling to stay issuance of a written opinion explaining the basis for denying the preliminary injunction, as well as the two groups’ request for her to set a trial date for as early as November.

However, the defendants said the court did not agree to dismiss the underlying lawsuit, in which the Center for Biological Diversity and WaterWatch claim operation of the reservoirs by the Central Oregon, North Unit and Tumalo irrigation districts and the Bureau of Reclamation is violating the Endangered Species Act, which results in harm to the Oregon spotted frog, listed as a threatened species.

“We are pleased with the judge’s opinion and look forward to continuing our work managing the region’s water in a way that benefits the frog, other fish and wildlife, our water resources, and our local economy,” said Mike Britton, president of the Deschutes Basin Board of Control, which represents eight irrigation districts in the basin.

7. Links: Things to Think About & Things to Do

“…Do the people who give money to environmental groups realize the endgame is to evict people from their land? I doubt it. The American dream has always been to own a bit of property on which to pursue happiness. This dream involves some compromises, including a good, balanced stewardship of nature — much like what was happening in Klamath before the ONRC arrived. But this dream will disappear — as it already is in Oregon and California — if environmental groups and complicit government agencies are allowed to continue their rural cleansing.”

“Honor, justice, and humanity, forbid us tamely to surrender that freedom which we received from our gallant ancestors, and which our innocent posterity have a right to receive from us.” —Thomas Jefferson (1775)